Rezakhani is a
Global historian who has published on
Late Antique Iran and
Central Asia, particularly
Sasanian history. Educated initially in
philology (including
Indo-European Studies) and
medieval history, Rezakhani's work encompasses comparative approaches to
World History, using
Central and
West Asia as areas of focus and encompassing matters of
culture,
language, and
economic and
political history. Chronologically, Rezakhani's research is most concerned with the
first millennium, particularly the period of transition from late antiquity to
Early Islam. Rezakhani's interest in Central Asian history has also resulted in works concerned with the historiography of the Silk Road and its creation in 19th century Europe as part of colonial historiography. His denial of the concept of the Silk Road, reflected in his article on the subject, the Road that Never Was. His monograph on the history of Central Asia, called
ReOrienting the Sasanians, provided a political history of Central Asia (including
Afghanistan and
Transoxiana) from the
Indo-Parthian period to the coming of Islam, and included the history of the
Kushans,
Iranian Huns, the
Kidarites,
Hephthalites,
Nezak Shah, and the
Western Turk Empire. In 2018, the book was the recipient of the Honourable Mention in the
Ehsan Yarshater Book Award. Rezakhani's contribution to the critiques of concepts prevalent in both academic history-writing and popular historical imagination about Iran and Asia, including the idea of Iranians as "Aryans", Nowruz as an "Indo-European" tradition, representations of "the Ancients" in contemporary Iranian discourse and other subjects. He is a regular contributor to Iranian and English media, with contributions to BBC Persian, VOA Persian and Radio Farda, as well as to popular history journals such as
History Today. Rezakhani runs the History of Iran podcast and is an editor at the Sasanika Project. == Publications ==